Noslack71
01-01-2007, 21:42
I had the opportunity this past week to shot 3 pistols all New out of the box.
#1.) Colt 1911 WWI Reproduction: This pistol felt a little odd at first since it did not rattle. I put 100 rounds of Blazer (CCI) 230 gr. ball amunition through it and it operated perfectly. All the shooting was from a standing, unsupported stance. Pistol shot well, I had fair groups out to 75' and, the only problem was my lack of practice. The sights are WWI vintage, it took me a magazine to get used to those sights. It seemed to take an eternity to reaquire the sight picture after letting three go in a rapid fire string. Out of the box, this is a very good pistol. It has a very comfortable feel and while it may take a while to be a bullseye shooter, I did not hve any flyers and, all 100 rounds went through some portion of the silhouette. That was probably pure luck and the comfort I felt with the 1911.
#2.) Thunder Ranch 22-4 .45acp: This revolver had an extremly tight/heavy trigger pull. I would guess somewhere around 8lbs +. The front sights are the dark blue half moon variety. The pistol performed very well in both the double action and single action modes. The 4" barrel kicks up a bit and, it takes some concentration to bring it back down to a decent sight picture when in the rapid fire, double action mode. The heavy trigger and my lack of practice all combined to make me want to run another 1000 rounds through this pistol. That may lighten the trigger a bit and hopefully it would improve my use of this pistol. At approx. 50 ' the strike of the round seems to fall about two inches or more for every 5' of additional range. That is strictly an eyeball SWAG. The single action mode had a very crisp trigger and, it was easy to aquire a decent sight picture and shot group during aimed fire. I was thinking of either orange or white chalk or day glo paint on the side of the front sight nearest the shooter to provide a little more contrast. If one of you have another suggestion as to achieving the goal of an easier to aquire front sight post I would be most grateful. The trigger seemed to lighten a bit at the end of 100 rounds but, I cannot be sure. S&W did add the little, internal key lock. The clips must be used with this pistol otherwise, ejecting the empty casings is time consuming. S&W did include the internal key lock on this model which, seems to have been designed by a liberal gun control engineer rather than a shooter. The gun can be easily concealed, great reliability and stopping power. It would make a great car, truck or home defense pistol. I did have a few flyers with this pistol but, that is purely my lack of practice
#3.) Browning High Power .40 cal: This was very nice straight out of the box. It obviously had the most modern sights and, that was a major difference. Having 10 rounds is nice, this is my first experience with the .40 cal and, I do not have enough experience or knowledge to make an informed opinion about the round. The pistol ran the 165 gr FMJ flawlessly and, came back on target very quickly. The trigger seemed to have about an 1/8th " of slack in it. I do not not if this is normal for Brownings or not. I sure do like the way it feels, it seemed a natural extension of my arm. Very good shot groups. They did seem to cluster a little low and to the left of my aim point but, I suspect this is my trigger control rather than the pistol. This pistol has a safety feature that requires a magazine (empty or loaded be inserted in the weapon before the hammer can be lowered. I am not a fan of this feature.
It was a pleasure to shoot each of these pistols.
Range Report: I used the NRAHQ range outside of Wash DC for shooting the pistols mentioned above. The range opens at 0830 Sat & Sun. and has different hours during the week. If you go online to HRAHQ.com and look under range services you will find the hours for that particular week. The schedule only goes out one month at a time. I normally get there at 0815 on Sundays. The range does not seem to fill up until church services are over on Sundays around 1100. The range is 100 meters indoor with a good automated/programmable target set-up. I beleive you can shoot up to na .300Win Mag on the range. If you are a NRA member, range fees are $12 hr. You can bring your own ammo. If you purchase ammo there it seems quite a bit cheaper than PX prices. Paper targets are $1 for three. They provide hearing protection and staplers. Some of the folks show up with some very interesting weapons, suppressors, automatic weapons and just about every kind of add on one could buy. I am just guessing but it looks like a very few of them have any kind of military,LEO or security training. Their mantra seems to be he who shoots the most bullets survives. May be something to that. A lot of these folks go through ammunition like there is no tommorrow and no particular target. This has certainly opened up my eyes to being in this metropolitan area. It is a very interesting show. Afterwards take time and go through the firearms museum. Happy New Year and Be Safe!
Noslack
#1.) Colt 1911 WWI Reproduction: This pistol felt a little odd at first since it did not rattle. I put 100 rounds of Blazer (CCI) 230 gr. ball amunition through it and it operated perfectly. All the shooting was from a standing, unsupported stance. Pistol shot well, I had fair groups out to 75' and, the only problem was my lack of practice. The sights are WWI vintage, it took me a magazine to get used to those sights. It seemed to take an eternity to reaquire the sight picture after letting three go in a rapid fire string. Out of the box, this is a very good pistol. It has a very comfortable feel and while it may take a while to be a bullseye shooter, I did not hve any flyers and, all 100 rounds went through some portion of the silhouette. That was probably pure luck and the comfort I felt with the 1911.
#2.) Thunder Ranch 22-4 .45acp: This revolver had an extremly tight/heavy trigger pull. I would guess somewhere around 8lbs +. The front sights are the dark blue half moon variety. The pistol performed very well in both the double action and single action modes. The 4" barrel kicks up a bit and, it takes some concentration to bring it back down to a decent sight picture when in the rapid fire, double action mode. The heavy trigger and my lack of practice all combined to make me want to run another 1000 rounds through this pistol. That may lighten the trigger a bit and hopefully it would improve my use of this pistol. At approx. 50 ' the strike of the round seems to fall about two inches or more for every 5' of additional range. That is strictly an eyeball SWAG. The single action mode had a very crisp trigger and, it was easy to aquire a decent sight picture and shot group during aimed fire. I was thinking of either orange or white chalk or day glo paint on the side of the front sight nearest the shooter to provide a little more contrast. If one of you have another suggestion as to achieving the goal of an easier to aquire front sight post I would be most grateful. The trigger seemed to lighten a bit at the end of 100 rounds but, I cannot be sure. S&W did add the little, internal key lock. The clips must be used with this pistol otherwise, ejecting the empty casings is time consuming. S&W did include the internal key lock on this model which, seems to have been designed by a liberal gun control engineer rather than a shooter. The gun can be easily concealed, great reliability and stopping power. It would make a great car, truck or home defense pistol. I did have a few flyers with this pistol but, that is purely my lack of practice
#3.) Browning High Power .40 cal: This was very nice straight out of the box. It obviously had the most modern sights and, that was a major difference. Having 10 rounds is nice, this is my first experience with the .40 cal and, I do not have enough experience or knowledge to make an informed opinion about the round. The pistol ran the 165 gr FMJ flawlessly and, came back on target very quickly. The trigger seemed to have about an 1/8th " of slack in it. I do not not if this is normal for Brownings or not. I sure do like the way it feels, it seemed a natural extension of my arm. Very good shot groups. They did seem to cluster a little low and to the left of my aim point but, I suspect this is my trigger control rather than the pistol. This pistol has a safety feature that requires a magazine (empty or loaded be inserted in the weapon before the hammer can be lowered. I am not a fan of this feature.
It was a pleasure to shoot each of these pistols.
Range Report: I used the NRAHQ range outside of Wash DC for shooting the pistols mentioned above. The range opens at 0830 Sat & Sun. and has different hours during the week. If you go online to HRAHQ.com and look under range services you will find the hours for that particular week. The schedule only goes out one month at a time. I normally get there at 0815 on Sundays. The range does not seem to fill up until church services are over on Sundays around 1100. The range is 100 meters indoor with a good automated/programmable target set-up. I beleive you can shoot up to na .300Win Mag on the range. If you are a NRA member, range fees are $12 hr. You can bring your own ammo. If you purchase ammo there it seems quite a bit cheaper than PX prices. Paper targets are $1 for three. They provide hearing protection and staplers. Some of the folks show up with some very interesting weapons, suppressors, automatic weapons and just about every kind of add on one could buy. I am just guessing but it looks like a very few of them have any kind of military,LEO or security training. Their mantra seems to be he who shoots the most bullets survives. May be something to that. A lot of these folks go through ammunition like there is no tommorrow and no particular target. This has certainly opened up my eyes to being in this metropolitan area. It is a very interesting show. Afterwards take time and go through the firearms museum. Happy New Year and Be Safe!
Noslack